Working from the director's original story, writer Chi-long To, struggles to craft anything but a checklist of genre conventions that are liable to wow those unfamiliar with Chinese gangster films, but bore aficionados silly. Telling the saga of two pairs of Triad brothers, the psychotic Lefty (Cheung obviously playing a watered down version of "As Tears Go By's" Fly) and the cool boss, Hung (Lay) as well as that of two upstarts Wing and Turbo, Yue and Chen respectively. At a very lean 85 minutes though, "Triad Underworld" finds itself in rare company, serving up a meal of mediocrity that tastes worse than it actually is. Ching-Po Wong's 2004 film "Triad Underworld" looked to take the talents of a reunited Cheung and Lau, as well as teaming them up with some of Lau's co-stars from the latter two "Infernal Affairs" films, Shawn Yue, Edison Chen and Eric Tsang. Around 15 years later, Andy Lau would further his star in the critically acclaimed " Infernal Affairs" series. Running strong on two amazing and polar opposite performances from Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung, the film would prove to be a hit for all parties. Wong Kar-Wai's late 80's feature film debut "As Tears Go By" was a solid, gritty Chinese crime story that showed early signs of the famed director's visual flair.
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